Brussels Airlines must carry out 3,000 near-empty flights to keep its slots

Brussels Airlines must operate 3,000 flights almost without any passengers on board to avoid losing its slots at some airports. A standard set by Europe that goes wrong, both from an ecological and economic point of view, said Belgian Federal Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet who referred the matter to the European Transport Commissioner.

Last week, the German media delivered worrying news, both from an ecological and economic point of view: the Lufthansa Group was cancelling 33,000 flights during the first quarter of 2022 due to the many reservations cancelled after the expansion of the omicron variant. It could have cut many more flights, but it was going to maintain 18,000 of its flights, with the planes flying nearly empty.

The German group was constrained to maintain certain quotas, at the risk of losing slots at certain airports. Normally, 80% of slots must be used at one destination, otherwise, the company risks losing them the following season. That rule was suspended by the EU at the height of the epidemic, but since reintroduced at the level of 50%, last spring.

Of the 18,000 useless flights that the Lufthansa Group is forced to perform, 3,000 involve planes in Brussels Airlines colours. These quotas imposed by the EU are bound to be perceived badly when countries must reduce their impact on climate and save energy.

The Belgian Federal Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet has sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean, to inform him of this problem and to ask for an additional reduction in the number of take-off and landing slots that an airline must use to keep them.

UPDATE AND CLARIFICATION

Asked to give examples of empty flights operated by Brussels Airlines, spokeswoman Maaike Andries provided the following clarification:

“What is important to note is that there are no empty flights and there will never be “ghost flights”. In all this issue, it is always about regular commercial flights which are not filled enough to be cash-positive. During the entire pandemic, it was possible to cancel these flights and that’s what we would like to do now too. But, if that makes us go below the minimum number of flights to maintain the slots, we have to operate these flights nonetheless“.